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July 17, 2016 - At 2:00 P.M. Tuesday, July 19, 2016 during the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors weekly meeting the Board will hold a discussion and provide possible direction to staff to initiate a process to enable the Board to sell the 7.6 acres recently added to the Solid Waste Facility (swf) parcel for possible construction of a small forest biomass facility and receive responses to board questions identified during the discussion following Cortus Energy’s presentation on April 5, 2016.
The following is from the Supervisors packet information:
Click here to download the full packet.
Note: This item begins on Page 162 and continues through Page 185 of the packet.
RECOMMENDATION AND JUSTIFICATION:
Discussion and Possible Direction to Staff to Initiate a Process to Enable the Board to Sell the 7.6 Acres Recently Added to the Solid Waste Facility (SWF) Parcel for Possible Construction of a Small Forest Biomass Facility and Receive Responses to Board Questions Identified During the Discussion Following Cortus Energy’s Presentation on April 5, 2016.
The Board authorized purchase of the 7.6 acre property for $27,883 in 2014 to comply with a Regional Water Quality Control Board requirement to install monitoring wells near the landfill. The Board also approved payment of $492.56 in taxes for the property. Mariposa Biomass Project (MBP) wishes to purchase this property for possible construction of a small forest biomass plant and expects to offer a price above the County’s purchase cost. This site is attractive to MBP due to its proximity to the PG&E substation and the landfill. The process necessary for the Board to sell the parcel is described in the attached “Staff Report.”
Since the proposed biomass facility is a private project, the MBP expects to pay for staff time and other costs necessary to complete the required processes using funds from a recently awarded U.S. Forest Service Wood Innovations planning grant valued at $244,080. However, prior to incurring the costs necessary to comply with requirements such as the Subdivision Map Act, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the various permits, the MBP must have authorization from the County as the owner of the 7.6 acres in order to submit the appropriate documentation for review by County staff. The MBP therefore requests that the Board initiate the required public meeting process.
Receive Responses to Board Questions Identified During the Discussion Following Cortus Energy’s Presentation on April 5, 2016. The Public Works Director does not envision any scenario in which purchase of the 7.6 acres (which are not included in the area permitted by CalRecycle) would adversely impact operation of the Solid Waste Facility. He also advised that CalRecycle is not concerned with the potential sale as long as the biomass facility doesn’t interfere with the monitoring wells or otherwise adversely impact landfill operations. The Environmental Health Director advised that the Mariposa County Air Pollution Control District will be the permitting authority for the required air permit. See Attachment I, “Responses to Board Questions.”
Information Item
JUSTIFICATION:
The proposed small biomass facility involves no financial support from or risk to the County. The project is anticipated to produce more than $3 million in annual revenue from electricity sales to PG&E which the MBP can use to pay for forest biomass that has been removed from both public and private property as part of fuel reduction/fire safety programs. This operation will diversify our local economy by providing jobs to operate the facility, clearing timber and brush and transporting biomass to the facility. Benefits the County can derive on completion of the Project, include -
Over $28,000 in revenue from the sale of the property.
Approximately $150,000/year in property taxes.
Approximately $72,000 per year from the sale of green waste.
Annual revenues of $60,000 or more from a fuel cost savings program. If the annual average fuel cost is less than the target cost, the MBP is willing to split the savings with the County
Possible expansion of the industrial park through the supply of low cost thermal energy to the businesses in the park.
Greatly reduced air pollution relative to open pile burning.
Forest biomass projects of the type proposed by MBP have received support in California and several communities have made progress in establishing such facilities. In 2012, the California State Legislature approved S.B. 1122 that requires Investor Owned Utilities to procure up to 50 MW of electricity from sustainably harvested forest biomass. In 2015, the Governor’s Tree Mortality Disaster Proclamation included 5 provisions directed at promoting facilities of this type and 1 provision calling for continued operation of existing biomass facilities to utilize fuels from high hazard zones. The Governor’s Tree Mortality Task Force’s Bioenergy Working Group is making progress on implementation of these 6 items in the Proclamation. Attachment II is a map showing communities pursuing small biomass facilities. To address a common question about the rationale for constructing another biomass plant, Attachment III describes differences between existing old style, larger biomass plants and small forest biomass plants such as the one proposed by the MBP.
The MBP has developed a Financial Model that demonstrates that the proposed facility is financially viable based on receiving a demonstration project grant for $5 million from the California Energy Commission (CEC) Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) grant program and approximately $11 million in private investments. (The North Fork small forest biomass facility in Madera County received an EPIC grant valued at just under $5 Million.) See Attachment IV.
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF BOARD ACTIONS:
The Board received presentations from representatives of Mariposa Biomass Project on June 16, 2015, and from Cortus Energy on April 5, 2016. At the April 5th meeting, the Board identified questions and assigned responsibility for developing answers to Supervisor Smallcombe and the Public Works Department. The Board approved a letter of support for MBP’s Wood Innovations Grant application on January 5, 2016.>
ALTERNATIVES AND CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Without site control, the Mariposa Biomass Project would be unlikely to secure grant funding for a small forest biomass facility in Mariposa, since the CEC requires site control for EPIC grant funding. That funding is necessary to move forward on the project. The County would forego the potential to diversify its economy, to add 15-20 full time jobs (for facility operation and wood collection efforts), to reduce the threat of wild fire resulting from excess vegetation, to receive annual revenues in excess of $100,000 and to collect property taxes on a facility valued at approximately $15 Million.
“Staff Report”
The Process and the Proposition:
Before any interested party can purchase the 7.6 acres from the County, California Government Code stipulates that it must be made available through a series of 3 public meetings. Staff involvement in the meeting process would primarily involve publicizing the meetings and preparation of a staff report that describes the process in greater detail. If that meeting process concludes with a Board decision to sell the property, the sale must be contingent on satisfying a number of other state and county requirements including compliance with the Mariposa County General Plan and Zoning Ordinance, California Subdivision Map Act (SMA), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Mariposa County Air Pollution Control District permitting, and grading and building permits. The Planning Department’s fees to process a General Plan/Zoning Amendment and Land Division, including CEQA review, are charged on a cost accounting basis; the applicant pays for all costs for the project, on an hourly basis. Total processing costs can vary based upon the completeness of the initial project submittal documents, the environmental review document required for the project, agency comments, and controversy during processing. There are also outside costs associated with obtaining development entitlements (including surveying and engineering costs, and costs for environmental review work). There is a substantial investment required in order to obtain a development entitlement for this project.
The meeting process described above is necessary for the County to sell the property, ensure compliance with CEQA and the SMA, ensure compliance with the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance, and to conform with court decisions regarding CEQA review. The MBP wishes to purchase the property and is able to pay the costs for staff time and related expenses from the Wood Innovations grant funds. However, since those costs could be as high as $40,000 (assuming the process is processed with a Mitigated Negative Declaration), MBP needs assurance that the County is willing to initiate a process that can lead to sale of the property for construction of a small forest biomass facility. Further, the Planning Department requires authorization from the County (as current owner of the property) in order to process a Land Division Application (to initiate the review process necessary to comply with the SMA) and to process a General Plan/Zoning Amendment. The Planning Director has also advised that CEQA forbids a ‘piecemeal’ review of environmental impacts of a project. So, when the MBP submits the Land Division Application and General Plan/Zoning Amendment, Planning will require that the entire project, including construction and operation of the facility, be
described in the documentation and that the specific project location be identified.
If, at the end of the meeting process, the Board approves the sale of the land, MBP would also request Board authorization to (1) submit a Land Division Application to the Planning Department to comply with the SMA, (2) submit a General Plan/Zoning Amendment, and (3) establish the terms of sale including –
Mariposa County assumes no liability in the biomass project;
the sale can not be considered final until all federal, state and county requirements necessary to proceed with construction have been fulfilled including compliance with the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance, SMA, CEQA, Mariposa County Air Pollution Control District permitting, grading and building permits and all required costs and fees have been paid to the County;
the County has authority to approve all biomass facility activities that might impact landfill operations to ensure compliance with the Regional Water Resources Control Board’s well monitoring requirement as well as the permits to operate the landfill;
the County will provide truck access from Highway 49 to the site provided that such access does not adversely affect landfill operations.
